The Underground - 3RACHA

28

Jisung was sat cross-legged on Chan's sofa, feeling beyond exhausted after his lack of sleep. Chan was sat next to him, his hand on Jisung's knee as the younger played with his fingers. Changbin sat on the floor in front of them, chewing on his bottom lip as he watched the two. Not many words had been exchanged between the three since Chan had managed to get Jisung to leave the bathroom.

"Do you want to go to sleep? You seem tired," Chan said, using his free hand to brush the hair out of Jisung's eyes.

"Yeah," Jisung whispered so quietly that Chan almost missed it. Jisung's eyes were drooping as he spoke and Chan didn't want to make him move any more than he had to, so he got up and outstretched his arms.

"I'll carry you."

Jisung uncrossed his legs and pushed himself so he was standing on the sofa, wrapping his arms around Chan's neck and his legs around his waist. His eyes had fallen closed before Chan had even reached his bedroom, where he lay Jisung down carefully on the furthest side of the bed. He pulled the covers over his body and kissed his forehead.

"I know you're too tired to take any of this in but I'm going to tell you anyway," Chan began, sitting down next to Jisung who had reopened his tired eyes to give Chan a curious look. "Someone once told me that when you're relaxed, try to imagine yourself in a situation that would usually make you nervous, one where you have to rap in front of someone. Start small and build your way up to things that seem more and more daunting. Don't try it now, you need to sleep and I don't know if it will work for you as it did for me but the situation seemed less scary than it originally did after I tried it. Do you think you could try that for me at some point?"

Jisung couldn't build up the energy to talk, his eyes had already fallen closed again, but he'd heard what Chan had said and he nodded once.

"Good," Chan said, giving Jisung one last peck on his forehead, "sweet dreams, baby."

-

"Is he going to be ok?" Changbin asked as soon as Chan walked into the living room.

Chan chuckled and sat next to him on the floor, "of course he's going to be ok. He's just tired and upset but he'll be back to his normal self before you know it, so don't worry."

Changbin nodded but he didn't look so sure. Chan didn't think he could convince him otherwise until he saw Jisung smile again, so he had to distract him instead. "Hey, didn't you want to show me a rap you wrote the other day?"

Changbin grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck, "ah, it's not very good."

"I doubt it. Show me and I'll give you my honest opinion," Chan promised, holding his hand over his heart to make a point but it only made Changbin laugh.

"Ok, fine." Changbin walked over to the sofa which his bag was beside. He dug around in it until he found his rap notebook, searched for his most recent page and he walked back to Chan. "It's not good...I just wrote what came to mind."

Chan took the notebook out of his hands and paid attention to every word that Changbin had written. Each line flowed effortlessly and rhymed in ways Chan's couldn't have thought of himself which impressed him.

Chan realised he didn't know a lot about Changbin's private life, but he learnt things he hadn't expected to from the rap which he knew was about his brother from the title. If what Changbin had been describing was true, Chan wanted to punch the guy, but as the rap got to the second verse, Chan realised he'd already passed. He also realised Changbin felt guilty for being so relieved when he died but Chan couldn't blame him.

"Is what you wrote true?" He asked once he had finished reading.

Changbin chuckled, "yeah, sorry it's was a bit rushed."